Irvan Finds Little Restriction In Carburetor-limited Races

July 1, 1993|By Mike Zizzo of The Sentinel Staff

Restrictor-plate races have puzzled its share of NASCAR Winston Cup teams over the years, but the Morgan-McClure Racing Team and its driver, Ernie Irvan, would gladly run a full schedule of those events.

Irvan and his team have three victories in the last four carburetor-restricted races at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

The streak began at this time last year as Irvan won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Two races later, he took the Diehard 500 title at Talladega. The run was spoiled by an accident in the season-opening Daytona 500, but Irvan rebounded in May to win the Winston 500 at Talladega.

It's that time again as Irvan and his cohorts kick off the second half of the season at 11 a.m. Saturday with the Pepsi 400 at Daytona's 2.5-mile trioval track. Qualifying for the pole through 20th position begins at 2:30 p.m. Practice will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with another session immediately following qualifying.

''We've won at this racetrack before and we've won three of the last four restrictor-plate races, so we have a lot of confidence coming into this,'' said Irvan, who also won the Daytona 500 in 1991. ''There are other teams who haven't won at these tracks and wonder if they can. We're pumped up pretty high.''

Pumped up is an emotion that Irvan has toyed with sporadically during the season. He has enjoyed six top-five showings in the first 14 races, but also has been the victim of six ''did not finishes.'' The last three - which came at Martinsville in late April and Pocono and Dover in consecutive June weekends - has been caused by engine problems.

''Our season has been up and down. We'll run good for two or three races and then have one or two bad ones,'' Irvan said. ''We've had several DNF's, but that's part of racing. If I never made a mistake, it would be frustrating. The guys in the shop are working just as hard as everybody else.''

A perfect example of this season was the four events leading up to the midseason break. Irvan sandwiched a fifth-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 and a third-place showing in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 around a 32nd in the Budweiser 500 and 34th in the Champion Spark Plug 500. The inconsistency has left Irvan 12th in the Winston Cup points standings.

''The thing is that we've been competitive, but have had trouble finishing races,'' Irvan said. ''You have to be consistent every week to be in contention to win races. That's what it's all about.''